Another shakeup is hitting the NASCAR World after it was announced this morning that Sam Mayer will return to JR Motorsports for the 2027 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season after two years with Haas Factory Team. Mayer will climb back into the No. 1 Chevrolet, taking his longtime sponsor, Starkey, with him. It’s a pivotal move for the young driver, who spent much of his time with HFT proving himself, and what better way to continue building that than getting back behind the wheel of the car that has already been such a significant part of his career?
Through 2025 and 2026, Haas Factory Team gave Mayer a chance to compete with a different organization after he established himself at JR Motorsports, and the Wisconsin native’s career took flight in record time. One of the highlights of his time at HFT was at Iowa Speedway in 2025, when he captured the checkered flag for the Hy-Vee Perks 250 and took the team to victory lane for the first time. He also finished P2 at Daytona in the United Rentals 300, advancing to the round of 8 in the playoffs.
This adds another layer to Mayer’s two-year run with HFT, built on the stamina he brought from JR Motorsports. Before parting ways with the team, he collected 7 Xfinity Series victories, now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, but perhaps his most defining moment came in 2023 when he won 4 races and finished 3rd in the championship standings.
He followed that with three more victories in 2024, including a narrow Texas win by 0.002 seconds and wins at Iowa and the Charlotte Roval. But the recent news of his return to JRM isn’t simply about going back to a familiar garage. It’s about coming back with two full seasons of experience competing for another team. That carries significant weight because Mayer has proven time and time again that he has what it takes, and his continual front-running finishes in this season’s championship battle only show part of his racetrack capabilities.
Over 26 races this season, Mayer has posted six top-five finishes and 13 top-tens while sitting fifth in the O’Reilly championship standings. He has shown speed throughout the year with an average starting position of 8.73 and an average finish of 15.42 according to current 2026 statistics. So when you factor those results into the equation, it’s clear he is consistent. At World Wide Technology Raceway earlier this month, Mayer finished P3 behind RCR’s Jesse Love and Haas Factory Team teammate Sheldon Creed.
This result gave him another top-five finish in the postseason, proving he will keep asserting himself. Now with the 2027 season already beginning to take shape, Mayer knows where he will be when the series arrives at Daytona. He will once again drive for JR Motorsports, the organization that gave him his first full opportunity in the series where he earned seven of his eight O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victories.
However, Mayer still has races left to run with Haas Factory Team before that reunion becomes official on the track. For now, the focus remains on finishing 2026 as strongly as possible. After that, the No.1 Chevrolet will be waiting, and Mayer will begin his second chapter with JRM, carrying more wins, more playoff experience, and two additional seasons of racing knowledge that he had before he left.
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